ev-disinfection wrote:Yep, i remember the maids.... i mean the grassland, but i remembered that it was not flat and street level, and that there was a knoll (small hill), and even the heaviest rain, would not cause any flooding...

Hehe... I remember it as a pretty sizeable area of grassland. The frontage to Orchard was the usual 45 degree 2 metre high banking fronted by drainage gullies that you see on government land (that you know is penciled-in to get concreted over).

What I do recall is the crowds of maids there on Sunday, it really was something to come upon for the first time, stop and stare in some wonder, as until it was explained to you seeing say 2000 picnicking women packed shoulder to shoulder in a park was... 'er, what the hell is this?'!

Point is though, the grassland would have allowed rain to soak-away. That of course would not be a problem with sticking the obscenity of Ion Mall on the land if the drains were made with large enough capacity - which they self-evidently were not.

p.s. There used to be a very nice open air hawker centre just to the NW up Orchard from Somerset MRT. That's where I took my parents for their first shot of chicken rice Feels like a long time ago now...